If you want to go more modern the first thing I would do is find a new breakfast table and a matching ight to go over the top of it next it looks like your polls polls PU polls polls

pulls are brushed nickel. Replace them with stylish brass ones to match the light fixtures. Same with the faucet. the window, are there 2? Treat them as one somehow. fabric in the kitchen always seems so dirty to me.

the tile is dated for sure, however replacing it is a bigger job than you think.

Change the lighting and window treatments--that can add a decade or two. Get rid of the red paint.

If it's in the budget, the backsplash.

The counter and cabinets aren't trendy right now but they are not especially tied down to an era. Can't really tell what color they are though.

Most likely, anything you do in an effort to cosmetically “update” is going to look dated pretty much immediately. 99% of the new kitchens on here are already dated.

What is it about the kitchen that makes it hard to use? That‘s where your money is going to be spent most wisely. But that’s assuming it even matters to you. Of course removing the curtain, repainting the walls, changing the builder-grade light fixtures, and perhaps replacing the backsplash, will look nicer—and be an inexpensive refresh. But in the end, changing things bigger-ticket items that work really well but aren’t the “right” color or whatever (like the countertop) won’t get you a new or better kitchen and, in fact, will most likely result in you having the same kitchen for another 20 years because you just spent thousands on new countertops or whatever.

Those are great chairs, btw.

Thanks everyone. Here is a closer look at the cabinet. The kitchen is 17 years old.

I think that your cabinets are very nice. You could do the easy things...curtains and wall paint first. I would then run the wood floors into the kitchen. If the budget allows I would change the backsplash.

The cabinets look more yellow in these photos perhaps because I took them at night under artificial light. During the day they look less yellow. The table was oak and we refinished it, making the top darker and panting the pedestal. The chairs are new and are more reflective of our transitional tastes.